The Stretch Drive (9)

• Just three or four weeks ago all the chatter from the Certified Smart People was that Hillary was “expanding the map,” and could concentrate on campaigning in red states like Georgia, Arizona, maybe even Texas. Now, Hillary’s campaign is frantically buying last minute ad time in . . . Michigan. (And Hillary has added a last minute campaign stop in Michigan today.) She’s suddenly campaigning hard in the key swing states. This should tell you everything you need to know about the state of the race with four days to go.

• The ABC/Washington Posttracking poll today has Hillary back up to a three-point lead, 47-44, though with the interesting finding that respondents give Trump a nine-point lead as the candidate best able to deal with corruption. Meanwhile, some new individual state polls show Trump within striking distance in blue states—down two points in Pennsylvania, tied in Colorado, comfortably ahead in New Hampshire and Arizona. But behind in Florida, which may yet again turn out to be the key state. Oh goody.

• It’s been obvious for a while now that Trump is actually running against four people: Hillary, her husband, President Obama, and Michelle Obama. I can’t recall a presidential election where the incumbent president made so many campaign appearances. Reagan made only one or two for George H.W. Bush in 1988, and of course Bill Clinton made none on behalf of Al Gore in 2000 (by Gore’s own choice reportedly). This shows how difficult it is to put Hillary over the top.

• Finally, in the miscellany department, a reader directs me to this very old ABC 20/20 expose of the Clinton standard operating sleaze. The video is 10 minutes long, but worth watching for its stomach-churning glory. Can we really want to put these people back in the White House?